


and maybe just this once, they'll work it out

by sam_writes_fics



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s07e06 The Al Smith Dinner, F/M, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Tagging, One Shot, POV Outsider, Santos Campaign, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29168859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sam_writes_fics/pseuds/sam_writes_fics
Summary: Leo hears some good news about two of his favorite people.One shot.Set during the Santos campaign.Spoilers through s07e06 'The Al Smith Dinner'.*Not my characters, I just love writing them.*Title inspired by the song Red Rover by The Scene Aesthetic
Relationships: Josh Lyman & Donna Moss, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	and maybe just this once, they'll work it out

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I wrote this in the middle of the night and I can't for the life of me remember what inspired it. But, it was written down and now I guess I should share it with you all. 
> 
> Did I proof read it? Absolutely not. Enjoy :)

The day started out normal enough. Leo had coffee early that morning with Josh and Congressman Santos that morning and the three of them went over the schedule for the next few days. Leo would head to Chicago tomorrow, and the governor was heading somewhere else, Leo couldn’t remember where. ‘Divide and conquer’ Josh called this strategy, and Leo knew it well, considering he was the one who taught it to the campaign manager.

The trio parted ways after that, the congreeman going off to find his wife and Leo heading to his car to take off to his morning speaking events. Before he left the small room the three men had gathered in, he took one last look back at Josh.

Josh had once again pulled the pocket size electoral map out of his back pocket and started making frantic notes on it. The map was covered in bullet points, scratched out ideas, and running tallies that were counted and re-counted with each passing day. It was a mess, but it just might work (the true Josh Lyman way). Ever since he left the White House his thoughts had been a mess. He was still brilliant, and his ideas and moves were smart when Leo could decipher them correctly, but it was all just a little too much to be crammed into one man’s mind.

To anyone else, he looked the part of a frantic former senior staffer who couldn’t get his bearings in the real world without the weight of the President or the White House behind him. Leo knew that wasn’t true, he knew what Josh could do before they even set foot in the White House, hell before he even joined Bartlet’s first campaign! Leo, of course, knew the real reason Josh was slightly spiraling. To Leo, Josh looked like a man who hadn’t lost the support of the White House, but rather lost the support of one particular White House staffer.

Leo knew better than to call her anything else than just that, an employee. He knew not to say anything else out loud, at least. What? The man wasn’t _blind_.

He didn’t dwell on the thought too much. He called out to Josh and told him to get some sleep or at least a decent meal before his next meeting, and with that he was out the door.

A few hours later and he was back at campaign headquarters where Annabeth was telling him that he needed to change his tie. She never made comments on his wardrobe (“the man has excellent taste”) except when absolutely necessary. Apparently, there was a teachers’ strike in the neighboring cities and his tie was the exact shade of gold they used for all of their logos and posters. Not wanting to be the new poster boy for their fight (even if he did agree with them) in an election year, he set out to find the suitcase with a few spare shirts and ties the campaign staffers kept around the office.

After finding out it was in the spare bedroom off one of the staff rooms, he rounded the corner and found Lou shutting the bedroom doors behind her as she exited the room. She let out a frustrated sigh as she tried to eavesdrop through the door.

“Who’s in there?” Leo asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

She casually moved away from the door as she answered his question. “Josh and some woman I hired for Midwest press.”

Josh and a woman who now works for him in a bedroom behind closed doors. Why wasn’t he entirely surprised?

“She any good?” he asked as he started to undo his tie. He didn’t know Lou all that well, but he respected the campaign decisions she had made so far.

“She’s great on tv, but Josh has a problem with her,” Lou replied as she rolled her eyes. She was starting to do that a lot when talking about Josh. Leo had been doing it for years.

“Why?”

“Not sure, something about how she used to work for him.”

Leo froze, tie midway undone.

“What’s her name?”

“Donatella Moss.”

A smirk started to spread slowly across his face.

“You’re kidding me,” he said slowly.

“Okay,” Lou started as she shifted her weight and placed her hands on her hips, “what is it with the men on this campaign and that girl?”

“She’s back?” Leo asked eagerly.

“You know her?”

“Kid,” Leo let out a deep breath as he put a hand on her shoulder, “I know more about Josh Lyman and Donatella Moss than I ever wanted to know in my lifetime.”

“Is she going to be a problem for us?” Lou asked cautiously, catching the subtle tone of Leo’s voice.

“No,” Leo quickly shook his head, “she’s one of the good ones.”

“Is she going to be a problem for Josh?”

“You really don’t know anything about her?”

“I know she was the spokesperson for the Russell campaign, and she was damn good at it.” Lou started counting on her fingers. “I know she worked in the White House, presumably under Josh and therefore under you. I know Josh didn’t want to hire her, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why-”

“Oh Lord,” Leo mused, still with a grin on his face.

“What?”

“He’s got it bad.”

“Got what bad?” she asked.

“This may be the worst it’s ever been,” he spoke again staring at the door, wishing he could see what he could only assume was an extremely awkward conversation on the other side of the door.

“How bad are we talking?” Lou stepped into his line of sight with a worried expression on her face. She had no idea was Leo was talking about, but she didn’t like the sound of it.

“Okay,” Leo snapped out of it and focused his attention back to Lou, “don’t let her go. She needs to be on this campaign, if not because she’s a bright girl, then for Josh’s sake.”

“See, we had a whole conversation just now,” Lou started as Leo’s attention drifted again, “but it shed absolutely no light on to why I should or should not be concerned about those two.”

“I gotta call CJ, I gotta change my bet in the pool,” Leo started recalculating dates in his head.

“You really don’t even need me for this conversation anymore, do you?” Lou asked unamused.

“You,” Leo pointed at her, “make sure that Donna Moss stays on this campaign.”

Lou was about to interject, but Leo was faster.

“And tell Josh I said that it was for his own good.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Will he know what that means?”

“Yes,” Leo said as he backed out of the staff room, tie in hand.

“Will I know what that means?”

Leo flashed her a look with his trademark smile.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough.”

He made his exit with a wink just as Bram came flying in. Leo couldn’t help but laugh a little at this new revelation. He found an intern to switch ties with (“it’s handmade and imported, don’t do anything to it”) and gave CJ a call (“insider trading? It’s an office pool, not Wall Street CJ!”) before he ventured off to find Annabeth so she could shuffle him off to his next engagement.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know the doors to the room weren't closed in the real scene, but I like it this way better.


End file.
